Gasperini’s comments following Napoli v Roma

Here is what he had to say.

You played a great game. You wanted to make some substitutions, but the team bounced back. You finished the match with young players on the pitch. Would you say that the team lacked sharpness and perhaps some savvy?

“Probably, yes, but we often finish these matches with young players who have to grow up and need more game time and to impose their character on the pitch. Those are crucial minutes in a game, where it’s important to have energy and freshness, which is something they have. We had some chances that we should’ve handled better.”

You had a high xG count; you were dangerous. What is your assessment of Donyell Malen’s performance?

“I’ve always firmly believed in Malen: he has the best possible attributes a player can have in my opinion. This team needs a forward like him. He is often in a position to be dangerous, and his team-mates deserve credit too. He has just arrived and we can keep improving. Then with [Paulo] Dybala if he recovers, plus [Matias] Soule who wasn’t 100% fit today and [Stephan] El Shaarawy, we could be more competitive. Malen is not only good at penalties but also at free kicks. It wasn’t easy against a keeper like [Vanja] Milinkovic-Savic; he did a good job.”

Teams are also assessed based on how they start a game. You have struggled in head-to-head matches, but you have always started your games well; the work you’ve done and your foundations are solid. Now you have to be consistent throughout each game, but you started the game very well.

“We’ve always had this attitude; we’re fourth in the table. Of course, had we had Malen in the first half of the season, we would have a few more points now. But we’ve grown in terms of attitude. We’ve won many games, but we’ve lost many head-to-head matches. We sometimes came close to picking up points. We’re doing better in this second half of the season, despite drawing with Milan and Napoli. We’re disappointed with these two results as we came close to winning both games.”